Origin of carbonate-bearing rocks in Jezero crater: Implications for
ancient habitability in subsurface environments
Abstract
Jezero crater, an ancient lake basin that is the landing site of the
Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, contains a carbonate-bearing rock unit
termed the margin fractured unit. Some of the carbonates in these rocks
may have formed in a fluviolacustrine environment and therefore could
preserve biosignatures of paleolake-inhabiting lifeforms. Here we
evaluate whether these margin fractured unit carbonates formed as
authigenic precipitates in a fluviolacustrine environment or via
alteration of primary minerals by groundwater. We integrate thermal
inertia measurements from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS),
spectral analyses from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer
for Mars (CRISM), examination of stratigraphic relationships in Jezero
crater using High Resolution Science Experiment (HiRISE) and Context
Camera (CTX) images and digital elevation models. We also compare the
Jezero crater results to observations from the Curiosity rover in Gale
crater. We find that margin fractured bedrock with the deepest
visible-to-near-infrared carbonate absorptions also has exceptionally
high thermal inertia and thickness relative to other carbonate-bearing
units in Jezero crater, consistent with enhanced cementation and
crystallization by groundwater. Our results indicate that it is equally
likely that carbonates in Jezero crater formed via alteration of primary
minerals by alkaline groundwater rather than as authigenic precipitates
in a fluviolacustrine environment. Jezero crater may have hosted ancient
subsurface habitable environments related to these groundwaters, where
life-sustaining redox energy was generated by water-rock interactions.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover could encounter biosignatures preserved
from this carbonate-forming environment, whether it was fluviolacustrine
or in the subsurface.